Going, Going, Gone: Endangered Languages

Vermont Edition host Jane Lindholm (of Vermont Public Radio) spoke with UVM professor Emily Manetta about the intertwined effects of language loss and its impact on cultural heritage. Special attention is paid to Aln8ba8dwaw8gan, the language spoken by the Western Abenaki people of Vermont, New Hampshire, and southern Quebec (today’s approximate area). Jesse Bruchac, language scholar and teacher with elder Joseph Elie Joubert, shares his perspectives and his work with the hosts.

One thought on “Going, Going, Gone: Endangered Languages”

Rich, Nice interviews. It is sad to see a language and hence the cultural understanding of the meaning of the context lost. I think that the understanding of the context and the human relation to it is constantly changing and evolving in the same language as well as from one language to another. One radical difference in the relation of man to the environment can be seen in the interpretation of “and man shall dominate all the plants and animals” expression in the Bible meaning to take and abuse to his pleasure v.s. the Pope’s more conservationist perspective of being stewards for future generations and the good of nature.